Re: Raised Bed
Bev,
> I just noticed that you said you used composted cow manure. I was going to get
> some horse manure from some people we know, but my mom said my kids might get
> lock jaw--anyway, since I don't want to make her worry any more than she does, I
> thought I might get composted manure--it doesn't have the dangerous bacteria,
> does it?
THANKS for any help!
Kristina
>
>
> Hi Paul,
>
> I think it was me who told you about the raised bed. My beds are about
> 1 to 1 1/2 ft. high. We built them about 10 years ago. I tried to break
> up the bottom soil/clay with my hoe (oh my aching back!), then we filled
> the beds with river silt/soil. It's very sandy. I hoed somemore - I was
> younger then, what can I say...... We use to have horses & the beds got
> a goodly amount of horse poo poo and lots of weeds. After we sold the
> horses about 6 years ago, we just bought bags of composed cow manure,
> peat moss & natures helper soil amendment and added this every year.
> Last year when I decided to try to grow a big pumpkin I did a soil test
> & was deficient in nitrogen, but everything else was fine. So I sowed
> winter rye, then tilled that in in the spring, along with some blood
> meal. Then we got a load of mushroom compost & I used my rototiller (got
> tired of hoeing) to mix everything in. The bed that I grew my pumpkin in
> measures approx. 8 ft X 24 ft. & is fenced in to keep my dogs out. Of
> course the pumpkin vines outgrew the bed - I just guided them through
> the fence & let them sprawl (christmas tree method). I cut them off &
> buried the ends when the side vines got about 6 - 8 ft. long. The soil
> outside the bed is not very good - it's mulched with pine needles, but
> the pumpkin vines did root into the soil there. (I wonder just how good
> the soil, that the side vines root in, has to be. How far down do these
> vine roots go?) I fertilized this area also. I used a combination of
> granular fertilizer & then later on when the pumpkin was set I started
> using water soluable 20-20-20. I must have done something right cause I
> managed to grow a 581 lb pumpkin. We're in the process of making another
> pumpkin area - I'm going to try to have it plowed before we build the
> raised beds. I do have one question. We used landscaping timbers on our
> raised beds - are RR ties okay to use? I'm concerned about whatever
> they're treated with leaching into the soil & harming the plant.
>
> Hope this helps :-)
>
> Bev from N.C.
